Puppy love

A long time ago there was a dog named Lucy.  I don't know how old I was, middle school age I guess and I have this vivid memory of falling asleep on my bed in the middle of the day and waking up entangled with the dog.

Some people are born dog people -- they just love dogs and whenever they see one they crouch down and pet whatever mongrel comes across their path.  I am not one of these.  I do not dislike dogs, but I prefer them to be well-behaved and they should keep their noses to themselves at all times (if you get my drift.)

But I felt a shift in my overall feeling towards dogs when I woke up that long-ago

 afternoon and felt a sense of deep companionship with the big black dog who was sharing the same pillow as me.  I got it.  I loved that dog.

When she was hit by a car, my entire body broke out in hives.  She died, and I think she took with her my trust in canine companionship.  Basically, you can't count on it.

Since then there have been a number of dogs -- we had a big german shephard mutt named Max that scared everyone in the neighborhood.  He used to jump into Peter's pickup truck through an open window, and when he disappeared around hunting season we suspected that he must have jumped into a hunter's pick-up truck window.  Or at least that's what we hoped.

Our next dog was a dalmation -- and we originally named him Murphy.  But then, when he was still a puppy he was out on the boat with the kids and Peter out to get Sunday breakfast.  Murphy thought that the bag of donuts looked good and so dived off the boat -- and hence we re-named him Dunkin -- for taking a dunkin for donuts!

Dunkin was a great dog until the day he took a bite out of Maddie's cheek.  It wasn't vicious -- they were both on the floor and they were both going for the same piece of toast that had fallen underneath the high chair.  I was right there and saw Dunkin snap up the piece of toast just as Maddie leaned in -- and her cheek got in the way.  With a two-year-old in surgery I demanded that Peter get rid of the dog.  There was no way I was going to return home with my baby if that dog was in the house.  Trust was forever gone.

But I was concerned that Maddie would grow up with a fear of dogs -- and I didn't want that.  I would watch as kids would freak out and go literally mental when they saw a dog, and I thought no way, dogs are too prevalent in this world to be afraid of them.  So I knew we needed to get another dog, even though I wasn't thrilled with the idea.

When I had talked with the surgeon after Maddie's surgery about dog bites, he had told me that the ONLY dog that he knew of that next to never bit anyone was black labs.   That stayed in the back of my mind and when I heard that my sister-in-law was breeding black labs and had recently had a litter (Maddie had just turned four) we decided to get one.  Which was quite a big deal as they lived in Minnesota!

We brought Luna home on an airplane and she was a great dog from day one.  Our house was under construction at the time, an

d we were all living in one room.  We arrived home late and the kids were asleep, when a huge thunderstorm hit.  We fell asleep that night with all the kids and a new puppy in bed!

Luna spent the first few months going to work with me, and she was a great puppy.  She did however, have a few issues:  one being that she somehow confused where she was supposed to go to the bathroom, so I would take her outside at work and wander around the railroad tracks waiting for her to pee -- but nope, she'd wait until we'd walked back up the three flights to the office, and the moment I opened the door she would squat and pee and poop!  It was so frustrating!  One time I stayed outside my entire lunch hour, walking her around and around.  You could literally see her crossing her legs she had to go so bad.  And sure enough ... she just about dragged me up the steps so that she could get inside and relieve herself.

It was crazy.  So Peter started taking her to work with him -- and since he was often out on jobs, her choices were to go in his truck or outside ... so that problem was solved more or less.  I was also taking a 2 and 4 year old in the car with me for my two-hour daily commute so removing the dog from the mix was kind of nice.

But the bummer was, Luna went from being my dog to Peter's.  And she never came back.  Oh, she was always happy to see me (she is a black lab after all) but the moment Peter came into a room she would abandon me with no remorse whatsoever.    When I stopped working, Luna became my daily companion and we have hiked and hung out ever since, but the moment she hears Peter's truck ... off she goes.  Turncoat!

Last summer we were out on a big sailboat and the skipper had two black lab puppies -- one of them was named Lucy.  And without much thought at all I said to the kids "we're going to get a new puppy and I'm going to name her Lucy."  I don't believe that you can replace things -

- but my time with the original Lucy was very brief and I think I craved that feeling of total and complete loyalty and love that a dog can give you.

Luna does her best -- but she is torn by her other passions -- chasing a ball being her one true love.  She loses her mind altogether when I appear wearing hiking garb -- and there is no talking to her at all -- she just shakes and whines and overall drives me insane.  I seriously can not put those clothes on until I am ready to leave because otherwise she will nearly have a coronary in anticipation.

While I try to appreciate her excitement, in truth it just bugs me.  She loses her ability to listen or focus ... she just shakes and whines and drools and tucks her tail between her legs and won't stop until we leave.  Luna is very loyal to her addictions!   To me?  Not so much.

Today Lucy meandered into the living room and spotted me, and her eyes literally lit up.  She came over to me and stared up at me with her doggy eyes full of love and rested her head on my knee and sighed.  She is

 nine months old and is gi-normous.  She is well-behaved and listens to me and looks at Luna when she is having her conniptions and looks at me with an expression of "What is her problem?" And I say, exactly!  We are simpatico!

I took her for a walk alone the other day to do some leash training and then I let her off the leash for the last few miles, and she was very respectful and cognizant of my being there.

Today I took Luna as well, and Luna was all over the place, running off the trail and paying absolutely no attention to me whatsoever.  Don't get me wrong, Luna is a great dog and will return the moment I call her.  But I am second.  Lucy kept looking back at me, "is this okay?" she was asking.  At one point she trotted by my side and kept nudging me, as though to point out that "the other dog" was misbehaving and she wasn't!  She is just so like me!  

We just get each other.

I've never felt for Luna what I feel for Lucy -- and it's mostly because she was always so exasperating!  If it wasn't her pee problem, then it was her abandoning me with no regrets for Peter, or becoming a severe 

ballaholic or making it so that I can't get dressed for activities until I am ready to leave!  She isn't about pure love and loyalty, she has issues.

I've never been one for issues.

I know you can't say whether or not you love one of your children more than another, and I am sure there are plenty of dog people who would be horrified by my confessions.  But until today I hadn't realized that this Lucy had awakened in me a dormant dog-loving gene that I'd put away a long, long time ago.

Luna is on one side of me as I write this, Lucy on the other.  But their reasons are not the same.  Luna is afraid I might jump into hiking gear and abandon her (I am telling you, the dog is besotted with issues!) and Lucy just likes to be near me -- she has no ulterior motives.

And they called it .... puppy love